ActivePaper Archive Louis Carter among ‘giants in our midst’ - Chattanooga, 10/26/2002

Louis Carter among ‘giants in our midst’

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Dr. Louis Carter Jr. talks about travel by canoe in Papua New Guinea like he’s discussing a drive down the block. He discusses complicated plastic surgery as if it were as simple as placing a Band-Aid on a paper cut. A Lookout Mountain resident and the son and grandson of doctors, Dr. Carter is a medical missionary, a life he first committed himself to during a Bible conference in Indiana when he was 16 years old. To g e t her with his wife, Anne, a registered surgical nurse, he has made nearly 30 overseas trips to 16 hospitals in 12 countries since 1996. Their destination is frequently Africa, but they take a yearly two-week trip into the jungles of Papua New Guinea and also have served in Asia and South America. Their ministry, Home Schooling for Missionary and National Doctors, teaches doctors elsewhere new ways of doing things. "We try to upgrade the doctor,’’ said Dr. Carter, who is board certified in general, plastic and hand surgery. "I enjoy lecturing, and the young doctors are so eager to learn.’’ Wheaton College, the doctor’s alma mater, took note of the surgeon’s work and recently awarded him the 2002 Wheaton Alumni Association’s Distinguished Service to Society Award. Dr. Carter is in good company with the award. The other 2002 recipient was J. Dennis Hastert, the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. Past recipients have included Dr. Billy Graham, the international evangelist; Dr. Richard C. Halverson, the former U.S. Senate chaplain; Dr. Josh McDowell, Christian author, speaker and philosopher; and Dan Coats, a former senator from Indiana. Duane Litfin, president of Wheaton, referred to Dr. Carter and to Rep. Hastert as "giants in our midst." To see Dr. Carter’s handiwork, even through the venue of before and after slides from a recent trip, is to understand what Mr. Litfin meant. One typical slide shows a child with a face almost obliterated by a birth defect, by skin that has grown in all the wrong places. You see quickly that his prospects of seeing, hearing and eating are limited at best. You know that his chances of receiving help on his own are virtually nil. You wonder how, even in a remote country, such delicate surgery could be completed. Ye t, the next slide shows the child with a face that, while still raw from the effects of surgery, has all its elements in the right place. His prospects for life — not just living — have been immeasurably changed. The slides are just two of hundreds that document the work of Dr. Carter — not to glorify him but that other doctors might have examples of procedures that are possible to do on their own. Dr. Carter doesn’t just tell doctors and show them how to improve their work, though. He also brings them the supplies to do so, raising about $25,000 per trip to buy and leave such items as surgical instruments and equipment, books, videos and other supplies. Beyond awards and even beyond the critical work he is doing with doctors abroad is the guiding force behind his ministry — the desire for others to know what he knows. "If we did not feel the entire world needed to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ, we would not have left our practice to do this full-time," Dr. Carter said. "However, we feel strongly that everyone must hear and receive Christ as Savior. If we did not feel that Christ was the only way to heaven, then we might be unwise to risk our lives in some of the countries we visit.’’ To suggest a faith story, e-mail Clint Cooper at ccooper@timesfreepress.com.